By CROSBIE WALSH (University of the South Pacific Emeritus Professor Crosbie Walsh publishes the respected blog, Fiji The Way It Was, Is and Can Be. He pioneered development studies in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands and has been both an academic and a journalist.) Michelle Nijhuis (an award-winning journalist for National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines) calls checks on validity Bullshit Prevention Protocol. She says: I am often wrong. I misunderstand; I misremember; I believe things I shouldn’t. I’m overly optimistic about the future quality of Downton Abbey and inexact in my recall of rock-star shenanigans. But I am not often—knock wood—wrong in print, and that’s because, as a journalist, I’ve had advanced training in Bullshit Prevention Protocol. Preventing bullshit is time-consuming, and thoroughly fact-checking an entire article can feel like a particularly demented form of needlepoint. There’s a good reason why my Facebook posts and tweets are almost exclusively about my family and friends, certain TV shows, and articles written by me and people I know and trust. I don’t have a lot of time to practice BPP for free, and I don’t want to share bullshit. nTesting your skills Try testing your BPP skills on Rajendra Chaudhry’s claim that I reported on Saturday. This is what he wrote on Facebook: “From a friend: As we speaking message received Police ordered by PM to arrest Ro Teimumu for supporting Qarase’s perceived comments. Police contacted RFMF and was told not to and also told in clear terms that there is a change of Command at QEB. Period!!!” nCheck. 1 Your own views. Are you already inclined to believe or disbelieve him? 2. Is Facebook a credible source, and if not, why not? 3. Is Rajendra a likely reliable source? What may he hope to gain by publishing this story? 4. What do we know about Rajendra’s friend? 5. Has the story been repeated elsewhere? 6. What of the construction of the story? He quotes a friend (claim 1) who says the police received a message (claim 2) ordered by the PM (claim 3), and goes on to say the police contacted the RFMF (claim 4), who said no, do not arrest Ro Teimumu (claim 5). Ask why on earth Bainimarama should want to arrest Ro Teimumu who he leads decisively in the polls, when her arrest could backfire and generate a sympathy vote? And ask why arrest Ro Teimumu and not Qarase when it was Qarase who made the offending statements? Finally, check to see if the story has been reported elsewhere. Then on the basis of your answers, make your own call. This is all you can do. Ro Teimumu was not arrested. It was a non-event that cannot be tested. My own opinion is that this is the cleverest form of bullshit. It is a story that would have everyone denying any part of it, with no paper trail, and an outcome that cannot be tested because nothing happened. Feedback: newsroom@fijisun.com.fj

Fiji Sun and Crosbie and other supporters and sycophants of Frank Bainimarama have been turning a blind eye or glossing over all the shit that has been happening in the Bainimarama dictatorship.
that trend continues...

If Bainimarama has been swearing and shitting his pants there is nothing new in that. He's done that in the past.

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tualeita

25/8/2014 12:53:57 pm

@nothing new

"Old habits die hard."

Reply

Democracy Not Hypocrisy

24/8/2014 11:45:10 am

RPC and MPC are part of the problem. They cannot be part of the solution. RPC would be doing democracy a favour if he kept his mouth shut.

Warden Narsey makes a lot of sense.

Prior to this coup the coup perpetrators were Nationalists. This coup has seen Indo Fijians benefit the most whilst the Itaukei have had the Methodist Church neutralised by Frank and the removal of the GCC.

So just because we Indo Fijians are the major beneficiaries it does not mean we should support treason and coup culture.

If we support Fiji First, when the iTaukei are the majority population we are setting ourselves up for danger in the future. By Supporting FF we are supporting coups.

If (or when) a military leader rises who wants to advance Nationalist policy, then we are screwed.

No one can say - we don't support the taking of power by the military and the gun. We will have voted for FF who have done just that.

Chaudhary took a key government position with these traitors. This clearly shows that FLP are prepared to support coup culture when they benefit.

The Indo Fijians need leaders who have not "sold out" like MPC. We need leaders who are prepared to advance our position through diplomacy.

Support FF and we have signed our own death warrant. This coup has seen Indo Fijians benefit. Vote for legitimising a coup regime and we may not be so lucky next time around.

All Frank and Khaiyum have done is stir up racial hatred by destroying the GCC by force. That will continue to fester until it explodes down the track.

We should do what is right. Support democracy. Support the rule of law. Support the indigenous interests in this great country. Work together for the benefit of our nation. Not force things upon the people and incite racial tension.

Vote for anyone other than FF or FLP. Vote for the candidates who have not benefited from this illegal gang of thugs.

Place your Nation's future above any short term benefit. By peace and democracy not through military thug behaviour and coup culture.

Pakistan is part of the international election monitoring mob who will monitor the Fiji election.
It has just been revealed by Aljazeera news 25/08 that a Pakistani Electoral Commissioner has gone public with his claim that Pakistan's 2013 Election was rigged to given current PM Nawaz Sharif the win.
Let us hope we get a Pakistani observer who can detect rigging when it happens.

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"...Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives." --Robert A. Heinlein, -If This Goes On